Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Aging
Date Submitted: Nov 19, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 22, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: May 3, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
State Anxiety Related to Daily Function Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are There Gender Differences?
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Especially among older adults, the Corona virus pandemic (COVID-19) poses a challenge to people's day-to-day functioning and constitutes a meaningful factor related to their emotional and physical health.
Objective:
Objective:
This study aimed to analyze relationships and gender differences between state anxiety, daily functional actualization, and functional cognition among older adults during the COVD-19 pandemic shelter-in-place.
Methods:
Methods:
We collected online data from a sample of 204 people (102 men and 102 women) aged 60 years and older. In addition to a demographic questionnaire, the State-Trait Personality Inventory was used to assess state anxiety, the Daily Functional Actualization questionnaire was used to evaluate daily functional actualization and the Daily Living Questionnaire to measure functional cognition.
Results:
Results:
Significant gender differences were found for state anxiety, t(202) = -2.36, P = .02; daily functional actualization, t(202) = 2.15, P = .03; and several functional cognition components, such as complex tasks, Z = -3.07, P = .002; cognitive symptoms that might be interfering, Z = -2.15, P = .028; executive functions, Z = -2.21, P = .024; and executive function monitoring, Z = -2.21, P = .027. Significant medium correlations were found between both state anxiety level and functional cognition (r = .37–.40, P < .001) and daily functional actualization (r = -.62, P < .001). Furthermore, daily functional actualization predicted 43% of the variance of state anxiety level, F(1, 202) = 155.73, P < .0001.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
In older adults, anxiety is associated with cognitive decline. It may harm daily functional abilities, in turn leading to social isolation, loneliness, and decreased well-being. Knowledge and self-awareness about the relationships between common and available resources of daily functional actualization and functional cognition with anxiety, especially as related to gender, may serve as a possible strengthening factor in crisis periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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